April 23, 2012

Up above a part of Alphaville!  Look at all those big houses!

 Bispo of Salto De Pirapora

Elder Santana & I

(PS: a few of his other pictures did not come through right ...) 

So, I have huge news for you guys. A huge shock happened ... I couldn't believe it. Ha. I was transferred. So as for my old area, I don't know anything about how it is sadly. And as for the temple, I will get to go this next coming week. Yay! Because, I was transferred to the capital again, where we get to go every 3 months. I'm super excited. As for the worse than cops part, a less active member told us we are worse than cops. He said that if cops show up at his house, he could "prove" that he doesn't owe anything, but when we show up, "Oh boy", he said, "I sure owe a whole lot to God". Ha. It was pretty funny. But now time for the real reason of the shock, I am in the richest part of Brazil, opening the area after a whitewash (when they take out both missionaries and put two new ones in) with another first-time zone leader. Holy cow. The place is called Alphaville. It is super rich, like a small america. I am with Elder Santana. He is from a city close to Porto Alegre. My first day here, we had lunch at Pizza Hut. And after buying groceries, we got lost for a little bit wandering around with our food. It is quite an adventure here in Alphville. We have three Seventies that live in our ward, a few returned mission presidents, and basically, everyone is super experienced. We even have three American families in our ward. Its pretty much all gated communities, which makes the work a little difficult, but we're working. This area reminds me of my first area a little bit, and I know that the Lord will help us. There are several people here that go to the states, and even a few that go to BYU, and some are there right now. That's crazy eh? Who'd thunk. Ha. But I wanted to pass a scripture on to you guys this week in Alma 20, but I totally forgot the verse (Maybe 12?). It talks about how truly the Lord sent his Prophets among us, and we are truly blessed to have them. Jesus Christ Suffered for all of us. We can have joy in this life if we accept and life the Gospel. I love you guys, and have a great week.

Abraço,

Elder Tanner Ross Paxman

April 16, 2012

Fotos arent working, sorry. I love you guys.

 

This computer is giving me problems!! Anyways, another week flies by. The transfer is already this week, though I think that I will stay here with Elder Agnelli. This past transfer I was a district leader and trainer, but we'll see if I stay district leader this transfer or what the Lord has in store for me. And just so you know, the chocolate here does taste different, but its still good. Ha. Also, just if you were wondering, I live in Jardim Primavera which is a green color in the middle of the map if you look at the picture. (its small and is next to a blue one, and others). I did get a package from my parents, Yay! Thank you guys! So, this computer is dumb and I'm already running out of time. The work is going good, and Leonardo will be baptised this Saturday, and his family is returning to church. That's pretty cool. As for Viviane, we are still trying to work with them. I also got to go to a baptism of the Sister's this week, which was cool. The guy that was baptised is awesome. Also remind me about Worse Than the cops in your email next week. good story. I want you all to look up Alma 48:17-19. Truly there are so many real life hero's in the Book of Mormon, and we should always strive to be like them. I love you all. Have good week.

Abraço,

Elder Tanner Ross Paxman

April 9, 2012

 Our Chocolate Easter Eggs!  Yay!

Salto De Pirpora!

 Division with my MTC companion!  We started together, reached the middle together, and will leave together!  Craziness!

 Some of us Elders in the Zone!

Our Zone, ZONA SOROCABA!

Holy cow, that's a lot of stuff to read today. Thanks for sending Derek's and Drew's email. It sounds like they are doing awesome. I laughed at a few things Derek said as its so true here in Brazil. Soon though, all the days will blend together. I am writing him as well though, which is great. Dad, you need to be careful, don't go hurting yourself anymore. Ha. I love you Dad. Tell Korver that, yes, I am very happy to be on the mission. It is amazing. So here, we always eat at members houses for Almoço, so we did eat with some members on Easter. There is a huge tradition of Chocolate eggs here, and some of them are huge with I think one that was 11 pounds of Chocolate. Normally they are smaller, but decently sized. They are pretty good too. So, our week was a good week. Lets see, how is everyone doing? Well, Leonardo hopefully will be baptised this week, and also we hope that Viviane and her two kids will be baptised as well. We are hoping that this brings in Ataide. We talked about families a lot, and the Spirit was super strong as we brought a member, Manoel with us. He is awesome, and knows his stuff. Also, Fabio couldn't make it to church, but we are hoping that he is still wanting to continue on this path. Calisto wants more time to study the Church and know more ...  he knows its true, but he doesn't know if its the path for him, so we'll keep working with him. Holy cow, my time is already running out. Everything is going good here, and I am loving the mission. I wanted to talk about a scripture that I really like, which is Alma 37:6-7. Truly its all the small things that make the difference. Never forget the small things. Truly its the small things in our lives that lead to the big things, and that really matter most. I love you all and hope you all have a great week.

Abraço,

Elder Paxman

April 2, 2012

Wow, sounds like quite a week for you all this week. We all did get to watch conference, and at the same time too! That's legit. We couldn't watch the priesthood session, but it all was amazing! I love conference. I really enjoyed Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk. It was great. Truly the Prophet and Apostles are men chosen of God, and are inspired through His Holy Spirit. All of those that talked to us, they truly are instruments in the hands of God. And that is crazy that everyone is heading off on missions. Que loucura é essa? Ha. This week was a good week, aside from an amazing conference, I was able to do two divisions. I did one with Elder Voges! We hit off this miraculous race together, we passed the middle together, and in the end, we will finish together. That's pretty legit. It brought back a lot of good memories. Its crazy to see how much we have changed too. I also had another division with Elder De Moraes, one of our Zone Leaders, and that went well. He is a great missionary. We are working with several families here, one being the family of Ataide and Viviane, and they are awesome. Ataide really doesn't show much interest, but we are hoping and praying. They have three kids, Agatha, 13, Matheus, 8, and Nathalia, 3, and they have all been to church and enjoyed it. Becoming members truly will be the best thing that could happen to this family. We also are working with a man named Calisto, and he is an elect, and he just needs to know that this truly is the best path for him, or any other man for that matter. There also is a friend of a member that we are working with named Fabio, and he is awesome. He wants to follow the truth. There also is a family of inactives that we are working with their son, and I really hope it brings their whole family back. They need this. The Gospel is the best path for anyone, and truly the gospel will help any life that accepts it. Truly the Savior Jesus Christ lives and loves us. As we have just seen the Prophet of God, and we know that they are called of God. The scripture I would like to use this week is Doctrine and Covenants 1:37-38. We should study the scriptures, and truly the Words of the Prophets are scriptures as well. I hope we all have a chance to go back and read the talks from conference, or even watch them again. It truly is what Jesus would say to us. They are inspired for our day. While God does not change, we do, and therefore we need modern revelation in our days. The Lord loves us and wants us to be happy, but he wont force us to be happy. We are the ones who choose that. We already have the perfect plan to be happy, and we just need to use it. I love you all, and hope that all goes well with you throughout the week. May the Saviors love surround you, especially in this time of Easter.

Abraço,

Elder Tanner Ross Paxman

March 26, 2012

The END OF THE WORLD. Ha. We got soaked.

 Talking to my friends ...

 Balloon heads.  Ha.

 Teaching a balloon head ...

Sometimes calling to repentance is necessary ....  Ha.

 

Another week flies by. Sometimes it amazes me how short a week really is. And lovely fotos from Hawaii Mom and Dad, yes I do remember when I fell in the water in Hawaii. I wish I could fall in here too. Ha. The stars here are pretty bright, you can get some great views looking at the stars. I think I saw some planets from here too. Stars are such a beautiful creation of God. And I didn't get any mail this time, so I'll have to wait for the next chance. So this week wasn't too exciting. We did live through the "end of the world." It was crazy, we left the church after a reading one night, and it was raining. Then the wind picked up, which meant we couldn't use our umbrellas, so we got soaked. But that's not all, the power goes out in the city, and so its pitch black, and we're going through the rain with passing car lights and lightning lighting our way. Our house had power when we got there though. But it reminded me of what the end of the world would be like. Ha. It was cool though. We also had some fun with a package that my companion got from his family and girlfriend. We also have been working with several investigators and we have found some new people to teach too. The Lord is always watching us and blessing us in all that we do. The Lord loves us so much, and we should show our love to him. We can truly show our love by keeping his commandments, and as it says in Mosiah 2:17,  we can show our love by serving others. Truly we are all brothers and sisters, and we always should strive to serve others. The Lord blesses us, and we can be a blessing of the Lord by helping others. I am really looking forward to conference, and hope that all of you get a chance to hear the Prophets voice, and the counsel from him and others that God has called to lead us. I love you all, and hope that you all have an excellent week.

Abraço,

Elder Tanner Ross Paxman

March 19, 2012

 1 Year foto ...

 1 Year !!!

 Face burning. owwww! Ha. (not literally ... no one was seriously hurt in the taking of this picture  :-)

 One month for Elder Agnelli ... and one year for me!

 Burning Shirt = Really Hot!  Ha.

 Hey Look, it's Salto De Pirapora!

Thanks Grandma for the package  :-)

Another week flies by in the mission. I can't believe its already been a year. Craziness. This week has been quite a week. Elder Agnelli is still doing great, though we both are still the typical tired missionaries. Ha. We are really trying to talk to more and more people and trying to improve our contact skills. We had an amazing mission conference this week, and we all left pumped up and ready to work. Also Friday;  I made one year, and my companion made 1 month, so that was exciting, burning shirts, and drinking milkshakes. Ha. (Don't worry the shirt wasn't mine, it was an old one we found). I got a package from grandma which was awesome, and we have another chance to get mail this week, so we'll see if I get anything else. Thanks for all the stuff you send. This mission is awesome, and I'm loving it here. So Eliane is a member that used to be inactive that we reactivated, and she is a good friend of missionaries. She taught us how to cook a few things, and we had a family night over there with several members the other day. It was one of her kids birthdays, she has two boys, though in the end they couldn't come. We did a lesson using my legos. When we were heading over there, we walked over a log bridge, and its was super dark, and I saw a huge frog, I mean It could have been a bunny the size it was ...  jumping right in front of me. My companion told me to run, and I told him, its alright its already gone. He started running, and I looked to see why, and there was a huge bull (ox?) running right at me. I took off and booked it for my life. It didn't follow us for very long though. And later we had to sneak around another cow too. It had huge horns. It was an adventurous night :-)  Viviane and family are doing great, Ataide hasn't been to church yet, but the Kids went alone, as the Mom had a meeting and couldn't come. Truly the Lord blesses us in every moment. A scripture that I think has amazing counsel, is in Alma 37:37. It is very important that we counsel with the Lord and look for his help in all things.  I love all you guys and hope that you all have an amazing week.

Abraço,

Elder Tanner Ross Paxman

Some more pictures from members:

March 12, 2012

More pictures ...